More Fun Together
by ShadowhunterFay
Summary: The fire scorched the earth in every which way, no blade of grass, no tree, no person near did not feel the waves of heat rolling off of the man, dragon slayer- demon at the center of the ruined city of Magnolia.- A one shot focused on Natsu, Lucy, and Gray at the end of the final fight with Zeref. Story does contain spoilers and speculation with slight hints of NastuxLucy.


Merry Christmas! I normally just read on fanfiction now, but with what's been going on with the Manga and with the idea in my head I decided to post this as a one shot. This one shot has spoilers and should not be read if you do not wish to know. Please enjoy and a Merry Christmas to you.

The fire scorched the earth in every which way, no blade of grass, no tree, no person near did not feel the waves of heat rolling off of the man, dragon- _demon_ at the center of the ruined city of Magnolia. Not too far lay Zeref and his extensive mortal wounds. Mortal. He never thought the end would come once his brother was stopped from killing him by the little blue feline with wings.

It took his brother and the ice slayer, together to beat him. All had evacuated apart from the two rivals but one, who clung to a book that he had created. She was still within sight. Her clothes were torn and charred with her hair hung all around her face. She was shouting at the ice slayer with tears in her eyes. The dragon slayer at the middle of it all raised his face, grimacing as he tried to contain it. A yell escaped him as the energy rippled through his body. He could feel his body changing- teeth becoming sharper, a pain in his skull that echoed in his back, and his nails digging into his flesh in his clenched fists.

The celestial wizard took a step closer despite the heat, followed by another and another. She struggled against the heat and ignored the ice mage's warnings. Natsu saw her approach and pleaded with her.

"Don't come any closer, Lucy! I don't want to hurt anyone else!" She paused for a moment and only shook her head before pressing forward.

"Lucy, stop!" He yelled as another wave of heat rolled off of him with a force of reckoning. Lucy put her arms up in front of her and braced herself. The energy pushed her back and Natsu could smell the skin on her arms burning as she tried to mask her pain with a grin.

"I won't let you die, Natsu! I already told you that everything is more fun when we are together. When will you get that through your head! We are Fairy Tail and Fairy Tail doesn't give up. I won't give up on you no matter what and you can't give up either. You promised you would protect my future! How can you do that if you aren't here…" Lucy broke from her outburst as the tears began to flow freely down her face and a sob burst through her chest. Natsu felt his heart clench. This was the only way- the only way to protect her, to protect them all. Zeref was mortally wounded and that meant that he would die too. There was nothing they could do.

As Zeref drew closer to death, Natsu's ability to fight against the demonic nature weaned. What if he lost control in his final moments and destroyed that which was precious to him? He let himself fully look at her for a moment in awe.

"Lucy…" He whispered and instinctively took a step forward to comfort her. His moment of weakness was like throwing a boulder into a still pond and the repercussions were great. He watched as the released energy flung her backwards into what was once the wall of the guild. His heightened hearing of a dragon slayer did him no favors and he heard the sickening smack of her against the stone as he and Gray shouted her name only to watch her fall forward with her hand on that stupid book.

Natsu turned to Gray; his best friend was torn. He knew what needed to be done, but how could he strike down his comrade, his rival- his closest friend. How had they ended up here? How many times had Natsu saved the day only to find himself at the end some messed up fairy tale…

"Gray. Listen to me." Natsu took one more glance at Lucy and took comfort that he could hear her soft breath. He knew she would try to approach him again if she woke up soon and needed to do this quickly.

"Natsu, how am I supposed to-" Gray clenched his fists, and angered tears gathered in his eyes.

"You have to. You're the only one who can icicle brain," Natsu have heartedly chuckled.

"How can you laugh at a time like this?!" Gray screeched at the top of his lungs.

"Because I'm still me, right now. I want to still be me when this ends. Look at Lucy, Gray! I don't want to hurt her or you or anyone else. Zeref is going to die and I'll die with him, but if you don't stop me then I might not be me anymore you idiot. You are the only one who can do this!" Natsu felt the tears on his face and smiled.

"You're just giving up you flame brain!" Gray replied shaking his head. Both were too distracted to notice a blonde girl using what magic she had left to move her hand.

"I'm not giving up. I'm fighting every second to hold this back! Please, Gray…. I want to still be me." Natsu met his eyes and knew this was it.

"You stupid idiot…" Gray let the tears flow as he formed the ice slayer magic in his hand. Natsu could feel himself slipping as Gray began to run against the heat. He thought about Happy and how he loved fish, about all of Erza's outbursts when he and Gray fought, about how Gray pushed him to his max…

Zeref's breath was becoming shallow.

He thought about the Guild, his friends, and Igneel…

He could feel Gray's magic cooling the air around him.

He thought of Lucy last. He thought to himself, "Only one more moment, and then they will be safe."

And then it was over. The heat was gone, along with the weight on his chest. Gray must have aimed right for once- it was over in an instant. That was when he heard it- the gasp. That was when he felt it- skin lean back onto him. That was when he opened his eyes to see Lucy in front of him, facing away while Gray's eyes were wide.

"Lucy…" Natsu uttered her name in confusion and slight relief. He didn't understand…. And that was when he smelt the blood. "Lucy!" He caught her as she slumped backwards, breathing hard. Gray pulled his hand back, ice disappearing around the three. Natsu cradled Lucy's head in his lap, trying to make sense of it all.

Lucy held a book. It was open and facing outward.

"Natsu…" Lucy opened one of her eyes and gave a slight smile. The small bit of blood he smelled came from her mouth. "I'm glad you're okay. I wasn't sure it would work." She gasped in pain as she coughed. Gray bend down to be by her side. He took in the book wondering if opening the Book of END was key when he realized this book was none other than Lucy's. It was her diary.

"What did you do?" Gray asked astonished by what he saw. Lucy looked from him to Natsu who was looking her over.

"Zeref bound your life to that book with magic." She pointed over to where the book lay near the old guild wall. "I bound your life to your love for the guild, and I used Gray's magic to seal it. I blocked Gray's attack and had him hit the book instead, using his magic. I told you…. It's more fun when we're all together." Lucy closed her eyes and Natsu felt the panic rise in his chest. He shook her and Gray placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Natsu, she'll be okay. We just need to take her to Wendy. She used the rest of her magic to bind you to this book," He said as he picked it up out of Lucy's hands, "and the impact of my attack might have done some damage. It's over Natsu."

Natsu carefully picked up the celestial mage like he had done so many times, but somehow this time it was different. He looked around at the scorched town of Magnolia, and at the damage done by the battle with Zeref.

"It's not over…," He felt her warm against his skin, and her breathing reminded him he needed to get moving. "It's just the beginning of a new adventure."

Gray smirked at him, "So… who's going to keep this book?"

Natsu smiled at him," Ain't it obvious? It is Lucy's diary after all."

They started towards the outskirts of town where Fairy Tail had evacuated the town's people. There would be plenty to deal with ahead. The fall out after a war is never easy, but if there was anything he had learned from her- it was to never give up.


End file.
